Plenimary task evaluation

Our prelinimary task was very short, consisting of 40 seconds. We used a variety of shots such as match on match action, close up and eye-line match.


I first walked outside the classroom then the scene cut to me walking through the door, this creates a continuous effect on the scene. I think this scene was very good and using a match on action shot benefited our preliminary task, I considered this for my own thriller.



We then decided to use eye-line match, I used this in my own thriller this is a very effective shot as you can see from the individual in the scene's perspective and can see what he is looking at.

In this scene, we used shot reverse shot to show the conversation which was between the student and teacher. I think this was a good shot to use as we can clearly see what is going on between the student and teacher and what their conversation is about.

Styles of editing

Styles of editing 

In films, the cinematographer decides what kind of camera shots is necessary and appropriate for the scene. 

Straight cut – this is a basic cut, where one image on screen is instantly replaced with another, often in the form of a camera angle change. Every film has at least one straight cut scene. 

Jump cut  - this cut is not always chosen by the director, it is usually a continuity error between two shots. Film makers should go by a 30 degree rule, where the camera in consecutive shots should move by 30 degrees minimum. This is evident to the audience that a cut has been made, if the camera moves less than 30 degrees the cut will be abrupt for the audience creating a jump cut.

Dissolve – Dissolve edit can be used in many ways, this is where one scene in a film moves onto another scene smoothly, so the two scenes look continuing and it doesn’t become evident that they are two separate shots. Adding a dissolve affect makes the scene flow better. 

Wipe – This style of editing is where one shot is replaced by another without using the dissolving effect, it gets rid of the first shot. 

Continuity -  this is when the last shot carrys on from the last shot, this makes the scene on going and makes it flow better. 

Title sequence

The production company - IDENT

Examples - MGM, Pixor, Colombio Disney, Fox, Universal

1.Product company name
2. Film director
3.Main stars
4. Title of the movie
5. Other major casts
6. Sound, script, make-up
8. Film producer
9. Director

I looked at four different examples of movie intros suchas:
se7en - this was produced by new line cinema and Arnold kopeless

In the opening of se7en, the audience get to see who the film was produced and directed by and they also get an insight about the antagonist and what he does by little clips. The opening is very dark with the usage of black and white indicating a very dark atmosphere, this suits well with the genre which is a thriller. The title sequence of Se7en is effective as it follows the order which it should and also creates the first feelings about what the film is going to be like which gets the audience hooked up into watching it.

Panic room - this was a columbia production, it was directed by David Fincher, in the opening we see a view of the city buildings and all the caste members names appear.

North By North West

North by north west is a suspensuful thriller produced by Alfred hitchock. The main characters in this film are Eva Marie Hart, Cary Grant and James Mason. North by North west is a story of mistaken identity, Cary Grant playing Roger Thornhill has a very busy lifestyle worrying about his several ex, wifes, mother and his Madison Avenue job, he is at a bar when he gets approached by two very intimidating men who mistake him for George Kaplan. The men had mistaken him for George Kaplan and were trying to stop him from interefring in their plans to smuggle out microfilm which contained goverment secrets.



Red herrings -  used to confuse the audience at an anticipating event, Alfred Hitchock used red hearings in North by North west in the scene where Roger thornhill had got shot by Evie hart, this scene acted as a decoy. The audience though Roger thornhill was dead and were in all shock however he was not dead, this was all part of the plan. The main purpose of red hearings is to act as a decoy. 

Thrillers usually include fast pacing,  frequent action and better equipped villians, the thrillers main purpose is to build up suspense to leave the audience thinking about certain situations and questioning certain characters. North by North west includes all of these things.







Cliffhangers - The main cliffhanger in the film is at the end where the audience are left in suspense when one of the main characters (Eve kendall) is pushed from the cliff, the audience are unaware of whether she will die or not when she is hanging from the top of rushmore mount. This builds more suspense, this was Alfred Hitchcock's main aim as he always liked to keep the audience on the edge of their seat.

Fast pacing - Fast pacing makes the journey very personal and makes the audience get a feel of the fast event. Thrillers often use fast pacing to make the audience think about what is going on and what is happening, the fact that everything is going on so fast has more of an effect on the scene.



Sound - There's a slow shot that is set up when Cary Grant who plays Roger thornhill is at a cropduster scene, the music is slow at first which makes the audiene wonder what is going to happen next, when the music builds up eventually it promotes the action within the scene. One of the main aims for thrillers is to build suspense for the audience watching, both techniques do this effectively. Mis-en scene - Mis en scene literally refers to how everyhing is arranged and set out, in the cropduster scence, the surroundings are appropriate to the scene as it shows the character is at a disadvantage and makes the audience think he will get hit by the cropduster. The character portrays emotions of fear and the audience are left in curiousity thinking if the cropduster will hit him or not.

Editing- This scene mainly uses straight cuts, this makes the scene more intense for the audience. At the beginning of this scene it is a slow scene this allows the pace to pick up later as the scene gets more intense when the crop duster comes towards him. Hitchcock always knew how he wanted his films to be edited, in the scene at the beginning where roger is looking around we see a close up of his face, this allows the audience to gain more a feel of how Roger is feeling.






The Mcguffin
The mcguffin is an object or device used to create a motive for the book or film. The mcuffin is usually forgotten about throughout the film however is is brought back to the audience at the end. In North by North west the Mcguffin is the microfilm that is wanted by the antagonist.

Media theories

Media theories

There are  many different theories in media, it is essential for there to be different theories as you get a different outlook. Todorov and Barthes are the most well known media theories about the construction of media.

Barthes believes that there are 5 rules which need to be followed in order to enjoy a film. He made this into the Enigma Code
- The proairetic code
- The semantic code
- The symbolic code
- The cultural code
- The hermeneutic code

The proairectic code - this is the way that suspense builds up and leaves the audience in anticipation as to what is going to happen next

The semantic code - this is means a text having an ambiguous meaning, this means that it is interpreted in different ways, this means that the audience view things different to one another.

The symbolic code - The symbolic code comes under things such as clothimg and colours in the film.

The cultural code - This looks at the audiences cultural knowlege, ideology and morality. This is used frequently by the director to know how to effect the audience or how to give them an emotion.

The hermeneutic code- This is the way that the avoids to let the whole storyline out and stops it from revealing all details, this means that only small clues are dropped throughout the film to create a mystery scene. Majority thriller and crime films use this

The binary opposites can be found in any movie, this comes under two things opposing eachother e.g dominant vs subordinate, hero/villain. In most films, the characters consist of a good guy and a bad guy but any characters that are considered opposite to eachother can also be reffered to as binary opposites.
Examples of binary opposites
 Batman and the Joker
Spiderman and the Goblin
Bugsy Malone and Fat Sam

Todorov Narrative Theory - Todorov's theory consists of a belief that every movie in every genre followed a pattern. This pattern is known as the narrative theory, there are 5 steps which present diffeent stages of the movie.
These 5 stages include:

A state of equilibrium - This focuses on the main introduction of the characters in the movie, this means getting an insight of their normal daily lives.

A disruption - This state of equilibrium will be distrupted by an event which majority of the time causes problems in the characters daily life, this change usually causes a large dilemma.

Recognition - This is where the audience are expecting the character to come up with a peaceful plan to solve the problem. Repair - This is where the character tries to find a solution to the dilemma which has been caused e.g the goodguy comes up with a plan to overcome the bad guy. An attempt to repair the damage - This  happens mainly towards the end of the movie, the character who had the dilemma and tried to solve the dilemma attemps to repair the damage and usually ends up at some risk. A resoration of a new equilibrium - In majority of the movies the problem always gets solved in the end and the attemp to repair the damage usually works, good always overcomes bad.

Genre

What is genre? Each film has a genre, however categorising films into the correct genre isn’t always easy as some films can have elements of different genres. There are many different film genre’s to cater to different audiences such as thriller films, comedy films, romance ECT. Movie critics and filmmakers may refer a film genre which means a subject matter or specific style. A film where you can clearly identify the film genre gives clues to potential viewers about the subject matter of the film. For an example if there are many funny scenes and hysterical moments this would be associated with being a comedy film. Some films have crossbreed with a few overlapping genres this is associated with a film having different subgenres. 

Thriller films are associated with feeling anticipation and suspense. The aim for thrillers is to build up anticipation and keep the audience thinking what is going to happen next. Thrillers always emphasise on danger/tension. There is always a climax which is build up in the film. Most thrillers involve physical action such as physical stunts, chases and running scenes. There are different thrillers such as psychological thrillers which is more to do with the mind rather than imposing physical threat. Criminal thrillers are also another example this incorporates the suspenseful aspects of a thriller with a crime film plot. 

Different genre's
Comedy example - Whitechicks
Action example -  Iron Man
Thriller example - Psycho
Romance - the vow

Conventions of a thriller

A thriller is a villain driven plot. In majority thriller movies there is a hero and a villain, the hero always overcomes the villain. The antangonists in a thriller movie are usually have some sort of power such as having money or authority in society whereas the heroes in thrillers are often average people who are relatable to the audience.  Thrillers usually have a wide range of sub genres.

Thrillers include 

- fast pacing

- frequent action
- more powerful and better equipped villains

Thrillers usually build up an atmosphere which creates suspense and leave the audience thinking what is going to happen next and eager to find out. Thrillers often use red hearings, these meant to leave the audience confused, it acts as a decoy. Thrillers also use cliffhangers to leave the audience wanting more and to get them thinking about what would of have happened at the end of the movie. Cliffhangers are usually dilemmas we don't see the full picture of, a lot of soap opera's use cliffhangers.

Sub genres

Legal thrillers - these involve the heroes and heroines usually lawyers/judges and confront 'the baddies' outside as well as inside the court, these legal people usually go through many difficulties to fight 'the baddies' but always win in the end, emphasising good is always over evil. An example of this kind of thriller is silent witness.

Psychological thriller - this is an emotional, mental conflict which plays with the audiences minds. Examples of these kind of films are doubt, strangers on a train and blue velvet. 

Spy thrillers - the hero in these kind of films are usually a government who tackle issues such as terrorism or any rivalry problems with the government. Examples of these kind of films are 24, with love, from Russia.

Techno thrillers - the problem usually arrives with a new technology that has gone wrong, it is in detail and made essential to the viewers to understand the plot. An example is hunt for october.

Religious thriller - These are related to religion and make the audience question into the deep issue of the film which is religion related. Examples: The DA vinci code, The name of the Rose, Foucalt's Pendulury.





Segments There are four different type of segments that contain different features for each genre.

Editing - Thrillers often use fast pacing editing to make the audience think about what is going on and where it is happening. The fact that it is a edited in a very fast way makes the audience feel as if they are also getting a feel of the fast event. Thrillers also use very slow scences to leave the audience anticipating on what is going to happen next, for an example if there was a scene of  a man going near an important box, it would make the audience think whether he is going to open the box or not and what would happen next. Slow scenes are also often used to draw attention to a particular item e.g a man opening an important box, this would also make the audience curious as to what is inside the box.

Camerashot/movements - In a thriller the different camera shots and movements are extremely important in how the events in a movie are portrayed. There are many different shots such as close ups, tilts, point of view angle, low angle, high angle and tracking shots. Close ups are often used to show something in more detail e.g a persons facial expression, from this the audience can see how the character is feeling. Point of view shots make the audience feel closer to the action and as if they are also going through the character's personal journey, a point of view shot also makes the audience see something how the character is seeing it.

Sound - Sound plays an important part in a thriller as it is usually the main source for creating suspense. The sound always goes from high to low and from fast to slow, this pattern builds up suspense, the sound emphasises on an important scene where emphasis is need e.g if someone is approaching someone with a knife, it leaves the audience thinking whether he is going to use the knife or not. 

Mis en scene -

the brief

The Brief 

 You have been asked to produce the titles and opening sequence of a new fiction film in the thriller genre

The sequence should last a maximum of two minutes.

You may work in a group of 2 - 4 students.

As acting is not assessed you are free to use actors that are not members of your group.

The film is worth 60% of your coursework grade.

The accompanying blog is worth 40% of your coursework grade

welcome

Hello, welcome to my blog. My name is Manjit Ram. I am currently studying AS Media at Robert clack.